under another sun

A nice English Breakfast and coffee, then off to meet Matt and Phoebe to go for a walk. We also went to his house, crossing the little river, where a heron was standing immobile in the water, and climbing up a hundred steps. His house is on the Manchester Road. The front of the house is close to the road, but view from the back windows is all of the treetops of the wooded hillside we climbed. Then along the Manchester road, and cut down to walk by the side of the canal, to the next little town called Marsden. Apparently it is where  Simon Armitage our current poet laureate was born. An inspiring valley surrounded by high moors. We had a good canal side walk in the bracing Yorkshire rain, and ended up having a cheeky cup of coffee in a cafe before catching a bus back to Slaithwaite.  Here we went straight to Hillside Harmonies, where Reuben had been holding the fort, to meet old pals of Lorraine's Lesley and Jeremy, who live in a town not too far away called Diggle where we sta...

Up and had a decent breakfast in the Beefeater, and then faffed about getting ready. Then at noon we set off, stopping off at immense shopping centres in Warrington and St Helens, as Lorraine was in search of something which proved unobtainable.  Then to Yorkshire, where people speak their minds, to Slaithwaite not far from Huddersfield. We drove on the M62, which went over windy hill, near Denshaw, apparently the highest point of any motorway in England. Some breathtaking countryside as we neared Slaithwaite, descending steeply down narrow roads of a valley from the high ground, with some amazing views. We parked up near our bed and breakfast, and carried all our stuff into a perfectly pleasant room. The owner Mike et us in and showed us to our room, and his wife, when we met her later was welcoming and friendly.  Slaithwaite is one of those places pronounced very confusingly. Locals pronounce it Sla-wit, and our hostess at the BnB pronounced it Slath-wait (which Matt told us...